


breaking the ice

by annejumps



Category: X-Men (Alternate Timeline Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Arranged Marriage, Alternate Universe - Royalty, Alternate Universe - Still Have Powers, Getting to Know Each Other, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-22
Updated: 2017-12-22
Packaged: 2019-02-11 01:56:48
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,569
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12924870
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/annejumps/pseuds/annejumps
Summary: It's Erik's first winter in Westchester Castle, and he's not sure his new husband even wants him around.





	breaking the ice

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ikeracity](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ikeracity/gifts).
  * In response to a prompt by [ikeracity](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ikeracity/pseuds/ikeracity) in the [secret_mutant_madness_2017](https://archiveofourown.org/collections/secret_mutant_madness_2017) collection. 



> **Prompt:**
> 
>  
> 
> Arranged marriage AU. Charles and Erik, newly married but still practically strangers to each other, spend their first holiday season together.....and fall in love along the way.

Erik found himself spending another evening inside his new chambers in Westchester Castle, by himself, near the fire as the snow blew outside, softly pattering and hissing against the windows. The feeling of the hot irons was strangely soothing to him, and went a way toward assuaging his loneliness—something he’d never admit to, not even to his new husband, Charles.

Charles, who naturally was much more at home in his own castle, was busy as usual with his friends and attendants, drinking mulled wine and dancing late into the night; no doubt this evening would be the same. Charles was two years younger than Erik, but Erik himself was only twenty-four. Erik’s kingdom, Genosha, and Charles’ were longtime enemies, and though their marriage was meant to serve as the embodiment of a truce between them, they were barely even on speaking terms. Erik even had his own section of the castle to live in.

Which was why Erik was surprised when he sensed Charles’ approach to his door, by the stainless steel core to his ring, the mate to which Erik wore on his own left hand. He’d made them himself and knew their feeling well.

“Erik?” came Charles’ voice, soft and tentative. Erik was mildly disappointed that Charles hadn’t used his telepathy to speak to him—he knew Charles was a telepath, a mutant like himself, but he’d never felt the touch of his mind, and was very curious about it. He wondered why Charles seemed to hide it so carefully from him.

“Charles?” Erik looked up from his book. He felt his heart give a stuttering beat as he did. Even in the firelight—maybe especially in the firelight, unfortunately—Charles was very handsome, with thick brown hair, alabaster skin dotted with the occasional pale freckle, red lips, and large, expressive blue eyes. He was incredibly charming, and Erik felt shy around him, and awkward, as if he didn’t fit in with Charles’ crowd and never would. Perhaps he’d be relegated to reading by firelight in his darkened chambers as a matter of course for the rest of this alliance, which presumably would be Erik’s entire life. 

Charles stepped closer, tentative. “I was… just curious as to where you were,” he offered, clasping his hands behind his back. 

Erik suspected Charles’ parents or someone else had told him he needed to spend more time with his husband, and felt himself go a bit red at the idea, although Charles gave nothing away, no indication of his thoughts. Erik didn’t need Charles’ pity or forced interactions from him. “Just reading,” he said, a bit stiffly. Charles remained standing, looking somewhat expectant. “Please, be seated,” Erik told him.

Charles did, on the armchair across from the long couch Erik sat on, and ran his hands up and down his thighs, nervous, before resting them on his knees. Erik watched, curious. Charles, nervous?

There was a long silence, during which they simply looked at each other.

“So….” Charles began. “Are you… comfortable here?”

“Here?” Erik raised a brow in question, gesturing with one hand to the room at large. 

“I mean… yes, but here in Westchester Castle,” Charles said, blushing—damn him, the blush made him even more appealing.

Erik shrugged. “I suppose. It’s warm here, at least,” he said, indicating the fire. “You have plenty to read.”

“I’ve noticed you….” Charles swallowed. “I’ve noticed you like to spend your evenings here, reading. Is that… what you would prefer? Or do you wish to spend more time with… me? The rest of us?” He bit his lip, and Erik had a sudden memory of their cursory, quick but firm kiss at the altar. He had a quick vision of himself getting up and kissing him again, surprising him out of this uncomfortable line of questioning. 

Erik closed the book and set it aside. “Do you wish me to spend more time with you?” he asked. “Or are you extending this invitation to me at the behest of another?”

Charles’ blush deepened, and he swallowed. He looked down for a moment, abashed, and finally said, “I had assumed you wanted nothing to do with me.”

“I had assumed that of you,” Erik told him. “You have your group of attendants and friends and I gathered that you did not want me among them.”

“I… I do,” Charles said. “I… didn’t know how to approach you on that, you seemed so… untouchable.”

Erik blinked. “I’m right here.”

Charles nodded. “I see.”

They felt into another silence, until Charles suddenly asked, “Do you like to play chess?”

\-------

Although Erik was now part of the group, and enjoyed the drinking, hunting parties, and evenings with music and dance, what he liked best was after all that, when Charles came to his quarters to play chess until after midnight, at which point he left to return to his own area of the castle and his own bed. More and more, as the weeks went by, Erik felt the urge to ask him to stay the night, but he never did.

As males, their union could never produce children, so there was no requirement that they consummate their marriage. Any children borne by any mistresses they might choose to take in the future would rule their kingdoms jointly; the same went for any they chose to adopt. Although they both were attracted to men as well as women, beyond that perfunctory kiss, there’d been no touch between them. Erik wanted to change that, but he had no idea how to start.

At the same time, winter was deepening and darkening. It was notably colder in his sitting room, and they each wore warmer clothes these days. He could use a warmer bed; the heated irons he tucked under the sheets weren’t exactly a substitute for Charles.

But he really didn’t know whether Charles was interested in him that way. Charles still kept his mind sealed up tight. And really, without knowing how Charles felt about it all, Erik kept his thoughts wrapped up as well. 

The depth of winter was also making him homesick, frankly. 

He must have been moping, because one evening, Charles said something. “My friend, are you all right?”

Erik looked up, startled, to find Charles’ eyes filled with compassion as he patiently awaited Erik’s next move. Erik had, he realized, been distracted.

“I’m….” Erik cleared his throat. “I’m homesick, I suppose, that’s all.”

“Oh, Erik.” Charles sighed, and at first Erik thought Charles was impatient with him. “I’m so sorry, I should have realized you’d be missing home. Is there anything I can do?”

“I don’t think you celebrate my holidays here,” Erik told him. “It’s fine, Charles. My mother passed away a long time ago, winter has never been the same without her since then.”

Brow creased with sadness, Charles nodded. He tilted his head, biting his lip, and finally said, “What were those days like? With her?”

Erik took a deep breath. “Well. She was….” He trailed off, and swallowed, throat suddenly thick. Suddenly, something occurred to him. “Why don’t you look for yourself?”

Charles’ mouth dropped open slightly, and he stared at Erik for a while. Erik was starting to feel very self-conscious about his suggestion when Charles said, sounding awestruck, “You’d let me do that? You’d let me inside your head?”

Erik nodded, watching him. He was starting to blush again, and to fidget a little. Strange, he seemed very excited by the prospect, and Erik had been assuming he somehow wasn’t good enough for Charles’ telepathic gifts. “Yes, Charles,” he confirmed, hearing Charles’ breath catch at that, followed by a huff of relieved laughter, Charles’ eyes twinkling.

“All right.” Charles shifted forward, elbows on his knees, and pressed the fingers of one hand to his temple. He stared at Erik very intently. “It won’t hurt,” Charles told him, voice low. “Just… think about her, about those times, and I’ll find those memories.”

And then there was the strange feeling of someone else being in his mind with him. Erik had no way to describe it other than that.

Charles’ probing his memories drew them to the surface of his mind, and as Charles carded through them—quiet evenings at his family’s modest dining room table, gathered around and lighting candles—Erik felt tears spring to his eyes. All the scents, sounds, feelings came back to him. Hanukkah was not a major holiday, but as a child, he’d loved it. One particular moment—in which his mother had cupped his face, smiling tenderly at him in the candlelight—caused the dam to break, and warm tears began to slide down his cheeks. To his surprise, Charles’ eyes were red, and he gave him a shaky but genuine smile as he drew his fingers away from his temple and his mind from Erik’s. Erik felt a little shiver of dismay at his leaving.

“I’d forgotten about that moment,” he told Charles, voice thick, not having to specify the part he meant. Charles nodded.

“My parents…. As good as they are at providing, they do not hold family sentiment as one of their strengths,” Charles said. “I don’t have such memories of my own. I thank you for letting me see those, Erik.” Another long silence of them looking at each other, although there was a different quality to it now. Erik had started to speak, although he wasn’t sure what he’d say, when the clock in the hallway struck midnight. “I’ll be taking my leave, then,” Charles said, standing up. 

“Charles!” Erik said, standing too. Charles stopped, and looked at him, expectant, a bit of color in his cheeks. Erik swallowed. “Would you… like to stay the night? With me,” he clarified, feeling a bit breathless.

Charles stepped close, closer than he’d ever been to Erik save that kiss on their wedding day. “Yes, Erik,” he said, voice low. “Yes, I would.” He put his hand on Erik’s chest—the first time he’d touched him at all since then—and Erik bent down to kiss him.

The touch of his lips to Charles’ was soft, just a brief point of contact, but to Erik it felt like a tiny shock of electricity. Charles shifted, and Erik cupped his jaw to keep him still. At that, Charles hummed, pressed his lips more firmly to Erik’s, and parted them. Erik inhaled in surprise, and in the next moment their tongues were touching, sliding against each other, hesitant and slow at first. 

Charles’ hand moved from Erik’s chest to his back, pulling him closer still, pressing them together. Just a few more moments of kissing him and it soon became evident that not only was Erik hard, so was Charles. After subtly rubbing his groin against Erik’s, Charles broke the kiss with a soft huff of laughter. “Bed, then?” he murmured, moving his hips back just enough to reach a hand between them and rub his palm firmly against Erik’s hard cock, through his flies. 

Erik swallowed a startled gasp. “Yes,” he agreed, surprised at how rough his voice sounded.

“Why don’t you lead the way?” Charles suggested, removing his hand from Erik’s groin to take one of Erik’s, lacing their fingers together. Erik nearly tripped over his own feet hurrying them to his bedroom.

Once there, they stripped off quickly, almost stumbling in their efforts to get their clothes off while stealing glances at each other. Charles was shorter than Erik, pale, but solid, nicely muscled and smooth-skinned as befitted a pampered prince. Erik’s hands tingled with the need to touch him, and once he’d shed his last item of clothing, casting it to the floor, he reached for him as he fell back onto the bed, pulling Charles over him. Laughing, Charles smiled down at him, naked and jubilant. 

“Hello, husband,” Charles said, and shifted to kiss him again. 

Erik’s hand found and wrapped around Charles’ cock, drawing a stuttering breath from him, followed by a quick nip to Erik’s bottom lip. Shifting his weight to one hand, with a huff of laughter into the kiss Charles wrapped his free hand around Erik’s cock.

It was cold in his bedroom, but with the heat of Charles’ skin pressed against his own, Erik hardly noticed. As Charles’ fingers explored him, learned him, Erik returned the favor. The kiss started to unravel, more heated licks and bites and little gasps of each other’s breath. Erik could feel Charles’ arousal like a cloud of mist in the air, filling his nostrils and seeping into his mind. 

Charles shifted his weight onto his side, and Erik moved with him. They rejoined the kiss, messier now, and took firmer grips of each other, squeezing and stroking until they were both panting. Charles squirmed, murmuring inaudible words against Erik’s lips as he got closer, arousal boiling hotter in his mind, the heat seeping into Erik’s.

With a sudden sharp groan, Charles came, his pleasure flooding over Erik’s fingers and rushing into his mind. Charles shuddered and went still as Erik’s hand worked his cock, but soon enough, sending his peak into Erik’s mind, he stroked him until Erik came with a groan.

Charles drew back to blink at him, eyes wide and blue and heated. He pressed a quick kiss to the corner of Erik’s mouth and then sighed, relaxing into the bed as he wiped his hand on his belly. He smiled at Erik, dazzling. “And here I thought you didn’t like me,” he teased, stretching.

Erik blinked. “Aren’t you able to read minds?” He’d at least thought Charles was handsome, and knew he was intelligent. It wasn’t a case of not liking him.

“I wouldn’t read yours,” Charles protested. “We’d just met—we didn’t know each other. I won’t snoop about in your mind right away. You seemed very… closed off. I didn’t want to intrude.”

“But you would snoop around if we did know each other?” Erik teased back.

“That’s not what I meant—”

“It’s fine, Charles. I thought you considered me beneath you and not worthy of being shown your powers.”

Charles’ mouth dropped open. “Oh, no, not at all. Far from it, my friend. And I think your powers are… beautiful. When you move the chess pieces with them—I’m delighted every time.”

Erik had never been told his powers were beautiful, and he was struck silent for a time. He finally noticed, then, that he was starting to shiver, with his bare skin out in the cold room, and he pulled back the covers, getting under the piles of blankets. Charles quickly joined him, and pressed against his back, an arm around him, the both of them still naked and quickly warming up again.

“This is your home as much as it is mine, now,” Charles declared, placing a kiss on the curve between Erik’s neck and shoulder. “We’ll celebrate anything you like. We have plenty of candles.”

Erik laughed softly. “It’s about more than just candles, Charles.”

“I’m sure,” Charles replied, and kissed him just under his ear. “I look forward to you telling me all about it,” he added in a murmur, and nipped Erik’s earlobe.

“Charles!” Erik admonished, but he couldn’t help a laugh. “I can’t associate my religion with you… doing that.”

“All right, so… religion later, then,” Charles suggested. 

“Fine with me,” Erik agreed, turning over to have his mouth captured in a kiss.


End file.
